Quartzsite, Arizona

 

 

click photo to enlarge		 Quartzsite is an unusual place in the southwest. The population in the 2010 census was 3,677 people. But in the winter it swells to over 200,000 people. Some even estimate as many as 2 million people. It attracts snowbirds from all over the US and Canada. There are numerous government lands for camping from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to State lands. Many are free and the BLM also offers Long Term Visitor Areas (LTVA) where you can get a pass for $180 that allows you to camp from Sept 15 to April 15, 7 months. These campgrounds can get pretty crowded so we opted to use a Boondockers welcome site which is free for members and you are on somebody's property that has a spot you can camp on. It had electric and that was all we needed and the guy asked for $5 a night if you used the electric. It was very nice, quiet and peaceful and was only about 1-1/2 miles from the town.

click photo to enlarge		 In January and February there are numerous rock, gem and mineral shows and they have the Big Tent RV show in January the largest consumer attended RV show in the USA. The entire area caters to the RV Lifestyle and the rock and mineral  hounds. We used to drive though Quartzsite about twice a year at all different times and we amazed at how many RVs would be in the general area in the winter. LOL and we managed to find a place to camp all by ourselves.

click photo to enlarge